Bills trade for LeSean McCoy + Matt Cassel

Boots Electric · Mar 4, 2015

Kiko Alonso had a tremendous rookie season, but was injured last season and the Bills defense was still top notch. He became expendable and the Bills jumped on the chance to bring in a All-Pro running back who is versatile in the running and passing game.You can't discredit the immediate impact McCoy will have on the Bills. The Bills will be a hard out for the Patriots the next 2 or 3 seasons with the way that team is constructed.

However, it will be Rex Ryan's ability as a draft evaluator that will be make or break for them in the future. His inability to improve the Jets through the draft hurt his tenure after his 2nd season.

50-yard-line · Mar 4, 2015

Deus Irae said:
The last 3 NFC SB representatives have been running teams that ran more than passed. This notion that it's a "pass happy" league ignores a whole lot of the picture.

Yeah, but you're talking about San Fran, Seattle and Seattle. Their defenses weren't just good, they were freakishly good (Smith and Smith three years ago were almost unstoppable). And both had QBs who could find a way to get points.

But it makes sense for Rex. Running game helps defense (eats the clock), he has no QB, and throwing in Buffalo in November/December can be an exercise in futility.

One point, though (aside from the enormous cap hit): a guy like McCoy greatly benefits from defenses having to play spread out against Kelly's offense. You couldn't stack the box against the Eagles the way you'll stack it against the Bills.

it's a ballsy trade for Rex.

Galeb · Mar 4, 2015

condon84 said:
Ball security so bad? Dude, what in the hell are you talking about?

In 1461 rushing attempts, he's fumbled it 12 times. That's roughly 1 fumble in every 121 rushing attempts

You are basically criticizing him for something your perceive may happen in the future when he's already has a good amount of data to tell us what his fumble rate is going to be.

Coincidentally, Legarrette Blount has fumbled 10 in 704 attempts which equal to about 1 in every 76 rushing attempts.

Watch even just a little bit of his film, including highlights. He holds the ball way too far from his body. Some day the stats will catch up to him.

sb1 · Mar 4, 2015

Florio says McCoy is not happy about being traded to the Bills. Rut ro!

Patriots1364life · Mar 4, 2015

McCoy already crying.

Sicilian · Mar 4, 2015

sb1 said:
Florio says McCoy is not happy about being traded to the Bills. Rut ro!

Not sure I trust Florio, but I could see it being an issue for him. He's coming from a team that has at least a decent reputation as a competing franchise, to one that hasn't made the playoffs in over a decade I think. Not only that, he's going from a high tempo offense where his receiving skills are put to great use, to a head coach that will likely say, "Huh? What? Offense? Just run McCoy into the line over and over again, whatever, I'm busy over here with the defense."

Edit: Also, now he has to live in Buffalo.

primetime · Mar 4, 2015

sb1 said:
Florio says McCoy is not happy about being traded to the Bills. Rut ro!

I don't think the issue is the Bills per se, but the trade in general: if they couldn't trade him, he would have been released and free to sign (and pick up another big signing bonus) with any team he wanted. Now he has to go to Buffalo without the nice chunk of extra guaranteed money.

Which just shows how badly the Eagles won this trade. They traded a guy they were going to cut anyways, who has a big cap number, for a promising young player on his rookie contract. The fact that McCoy can still play at a high level isn't particularly important to the argument, since he was going to be gone next year by hook or by crook.

Rob0729 · Mar 4, 2015

Sicilian said:
Not sure I trust Florio, but I could see it being an issue for him. He's coming from a team that has at least a decent reputation as a competing franchise, to one that hasn't made the playoffs in over a decade I think. Not only that, he's going from a high tempo offense where his receiving skills are put to great use, to a head coach that will likely say, "Huh? What? Offense? Just run McCoy into the line over and over again, whatever, I'm busy over here with the defense."

Edit: Also, now he has to live in Buffalo.

It wasn't Florio. He was reporting a Twitter post by Josina Anderson from ESPN wrote:

[

Full one tweet version] A source close to LeSean McCoy to me on how the #Eagles RB feels about news of an agreement to trade McCoy to Buffalo: "He’s a Pennsylvania kid. He’s never played football outside of Pennsylvania—high school, college, pro. So of course he's not happy. Sounds like it’s pretty final to me unless LeSean is refusing to go to Buffalo."

On whether the source believes McCoy will make a trade to Buffalo difficult, in light of McCoy’s initial reaction to the news:

"It'll be interesting to see how this process plays itself out because he's an interesting individual. In your mind, when you think of Buffalo you think of cold and losing games. It’s not like it’s the Philadelphia market where you’re always on t.v. and you’re playing for like the division title or that type of thing…It was unexpected. I'll tell you that much.”

The source on how McCoy is feeling at the moment:

Honestly, he's frustrated...It's alright. It's the league. I told him that. I guess he just never experienced that, but he was like 'why me.'"

The source said he thinks McCoy is "not going to make it easy, that's for sure."

The source on whether the trade news was a surprise:

"Honestly we were under the impression the whole time, that eventually at some point, Chip [Kelly] was going to ask LeSean to restructure his contract--not a pay cut, but convert some of his signing bonus."

http://www.twitlonger.com/show/n_1sl14ij

JMC00 · Mar 4, 2015

patsbrasilpatriotas said:
a. Revis by 18m a year
b. Vontae Davis + Talib ( healthy )
c. Vontae Davis + Browner + 3,5m cap space

The hell?

Davis and Talib arent free agents so this hypothetical is useless.

And yes I'd take Revis over those other options.

primetime · Mar 4, 2015

Sort of weird to say McCoy's angry because he got traded to Buffalo because he's from Pennsylvania and has always played there. Aside from Pittsburgh, who already has a #1 RB, where would he have preferred to go? I mean Buffalo's closer than Philadelphia to where he played college football.

Sicilian · Mar 4, 2015

Rob0729 said:
It wasn't Florio. He was reporting a Twitter post by Josina Anderson from ESPN wrote:

[

http://www.twitlonger.com/show/n_1sl14ij

Thank you for the clarification. I'm slightly more apt to believe it now

mayoclinic · Mar 4, 2015

It's really entertaining to watch the talking heads on NFL Network explode over this one.

RDS11 · Mar 4, 2015

New regime, but same issue : I don't get why the Bills are once again investing a lot on a running back. Since 2003, they have drafted 3 RBs in the 1st round (McGahee, Lynch and Spiller) and now they are taking another RB who will count for more than $11M in cap space.

Even the so-called ''running team'' (49ers and Seahawks) have not put that much ressources into the RB position.

primetime · Mar 4, 2015

RDS11 said:
New regime, but same issue : I don't get why the Bills are once again investing a lot on a running back. Since 2003, they have drafted 3 RBs in the 1st round (McGahee, Lynch and Spiller) and now they are taking another RB who will count for more than $11M in cap space.

Even the so-called ''running team'' (49ers and Seahawks) have not put that much ressources into the RB position.

And, hilariously, their best running back in that timeframe was an undrafted running back from a Division III school that played for three years in the National Indoor Football League and NFL Europe.

Poor Fred Jackson - despite routinely being one of the best and most dependable running backs in the league, his team has constantly looked to replace him. And despite being probably the team's best player, they've sunk serious draft and now trade capital into that effort. And failed every time, of course. But I feel like that's a fairly accurate metaphor for the Bills problems as a whole.

JarOfMayo51 · Mar 4, 2015

Deus Irae said:
Bills 2015 opponents:

Home: Miami, New England, NY Jets, Houston, Indianapolis, Dallas, NY Giants, Cincinnati
Away: Miami, New England, NY Jets, Tennessee, Philadelphia, Washington, Kansas City
London: Jacksonville

Are people figuring out why a Rex Ryan team would want a top flight RB yet, or are you still too busy bashing the move just because it wasn't a Patriots move?

Wow that road schedule is a joke.. KC and NE are only ones that are good.. maybe Philly depending on their QB situation.

All of their tough matchups they got at home with indy, Houston, Dallas and Cinci.. Giants could be tough next year as well with Cruz back opposite OBJ

JarOfMayo51 · Mar 4, 2015

hwc said:
The Bills have a neophyte owner who is mesmerized by "the big splash". Trading away years of top picks for Sammy Wadkins. Trading for an $11 million "marquee" back. These guys are all the same. What they know about football comes from watching idiots on SportsCenter.

One thing to consider when teams like Buffalo do these things is that they're trying to generate hype to increase season ticket sales and viewership so they don't have to move the team or have game blackouts.

Sammy Watkins is a great young receiver who can be there for the next 10 years and help develop a young QB, so I don't think that was a foolish move. It also gives them a big time flashy player that will help sell tickets

McCoy is a questionable move though, but Rex must feel that Alonso wouldn't be utilized to his fullest strengths in the 3-4 they're going to run out in Buffalo

I dunno.. Buffalo is a QB away from being a dominant team, and they're still young

JarOfMayo51 · Mar 4, 2015

BelichickFan said:
Yeah, I bet everyone here would have loved a Jamie Collins for McCoy trade

Omg don't even joke about that!

JMC00 · Mar 4, 2015

Hilarious thing is Alonso was their only legit starting MLB under contract. They are now gonna have to go out and get 2 MLB and another OLB if Jerry Hughes doesn't re-sign, unless they plan to use Manny Lawson as a starting OLB.

primetime · Mar 4, 2015

JMC00 said:
Hilarious thing is Alonso was their only legit starting MLB under contract. They are now gonna have to go out and get 2 MLB and another OLB if Jerry Hughes doesn't re-sign, unless they plan to use Manny Lawson as a starting OLB.

To be fair, if Ryan is going to implement a 3-4 then Alonso would have been miscast. He's strictly a 4-3 MLB.

shtydodge · Mar 4, 2015

IllegalContact said:
it's going to be interesting to see rex turn the bills defense into 3-4......expect to see serious growing pains on that front next year......alozo didn't fit that scheme anyway.....but then again neither does dareus, williams, or pretty much any LB that they have...

You are joking right? Pettine ( who was the Bills dc in 2013) and Ryan run a very similar defense, which is more of a hybrid than strictly a 3-4. So I don't see where you get that there will "serious growing pains" for the Bills defense.

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